All of the signs which the Lord Jesus did occur at specific times which were set and appointed by the Father. The feeding of the five thousand occurred at dusk, and the sign itself was in many respects hidden from human view. On the day of His resurrection, Jesus also appeared in a veiled way to the two disciples who were walking to Emmaus. Joining them on the journey, He took the time to expound to them the message of the Scriptures concerning His death and resurrection. Evening had come by the time His exposition reaches its end and the village draws near. Jesus prepares to continue further, but the disciples persuade Him to come in. Only after He has eaten and drunk with them does He remove the veil from their eyes so that they recognized Him.

One might wonder about the way the Lord Jesus reveals Himself here. Did He not know that He was going to enter the home of the disciples and reveal Himself to them? Why did He pretend to continue on His journey? Was this proper if He intended to stay with them anyway? Was the Lord Jesus deliberately fooling the disciples?

We ought not to think Christ's action as a deliberate dissimulation. Why had He hidden Himself from them? He obviously wanted His disciples to be led and moved to faith in Him and His resurrection on the basis of the testimony of the Scriptures. Not the sign but the Word was for Him the most important tool of instruction. He uses the means of the spoken Word in order to move them to faith in the written Word. And while they are kept from seeing Him, all focus falls on their hearing Him. The Word must enter their hearts, and they must believe the message of the Scriptures. Without the proclaimed Word, the signs were of no avail. One could only understand the signs if he believed in Christ's Word.

Now the Word has been administered, and just at the point of rounding off this exposition, the veiled Master comes to a crossroads situation with His disciples. They have come to their home; He is a “visitor” of whom the disciples know neither His place of origin, nor His destination. He is a complete stranger to them. But His words were filled with grace! He spoke the truth of God! Now they are placed before a decision. What must they do? Let Him go or invite Him in?

In the simple gesture of making out to continue on His way, the Lord Jesus shaped room for His disciples to make a decision. The veil with which He had covered Himself also required this simple gesture. And at this point, He tests more than their general feelings of hospitality. They have heard the Word! And Christ's action evokes from His disciples their attitude and response to the Word which they had heard. They want to hear more!

We do not know exactly how the discussion between the disciples and their hidden Master proceeded. But the passage says that the disciples persuaded Him to stay. Luke uses the same word we find here in Acts 16:15 where it describes how Lydia convinced Paul and his company to stay at her place. There Luke says, “And she prevailed upon us.” There may have been a number of pleas, but in the end the word of the disciples prevailed over the seeming intentions of the Lord. He agrees to come in and stay with them.

Why does He go in? He has found faith, the faith that has been prepared and is ready for increased revelation. Indeed, as several commentators say, Christ was not fooling His disciples. Had they not invited Him in, He would have gone further! But their invitation shows their love for the Word, and their implicit faith in the message which He had spoken to them. They believed the Scriptures, and their hearts burned within them!

Only when Christ sees this faith does he show the disciples His glory. When they see His glory, He disappears again. And when He departs, what element of His appearance lingers in their minds? Not what He looked like or what He wore. Rather, they fall under the spell of the majesty of the Word He spoke. Christ left them with the material they needed in order to be strengthened and solidified in the new message given to them. He prepared them for Pentecost!

It remains a simple gesture. He made as if to go further. But in this simple gesture we see the way of the Good Shepherd with His sheep. He gathers them together and also shapes room for them to want to come together. He quickens the desire for His Word, and makes room for the free response of faith. And the biggest veil removed for them is not the one that hid Him from them, but the one that prevented them from understanding the Scriptures! How they rejoiced when He removed this veil for them!

As the Good Shepherd who speaks from heaven, the Lord Jesus still works in the same way today. He seeks to open hearts to His Word. But much depends on us, too! Are we willing to receive Him and His Word into our hearts? How much does it mean to us? We have more than the disciples at Emmaus! The complete Scriptures have been given to us! The risen Lord has gone forward, and He feeds His flock with His Word day by day! But the test of faith continues. Just as He explored the hearts of His disciples at Emmaus, so He still does today. And He says, “Seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened!” For He imparts the fruit of His resurrection to all who believe in Him!